Online Volleyball Blog

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
-Vince Lombardi

So, you play volleyball, and you think that you can make it to the next level? Some words to the wise: finding a college to go to is stressful enough; finding a college to play at and be happy at is even worse. There are so many factors, so many variables that at times it makes you want to scream.

Here are some tips that will help you as you begin your search.

1. Make a decision whether or not you want to play. Do not waiver back and forth. Worst case, think you are going to play and then decide against it rather than vice versa.

2. Decide what sort of college you’re looking for. Do you want small class sizes and intimate learning? Do you want to be in a small college town? Do you want to be in a big school? Do you want to be academically challenged? For example, I decided that I wanted to play at a small, academic college in Southern California, so while I responded to inquiries from the East and Midwest, I generally indicated that I was exploring my options in Southern California first.

3. Do not overestimate yourself, but don’t underestimate yourself. Very few girls make it to the top level to play with 6’4 Alix Klineman at Stanford and 6’2 Juliann Faucette at Texas. If you’re good enough to make it in programs like that, go for it. But be honest with yourself–if you know you aren’t good enough to play at a given college and you know you want to play, take it off your list.

4. DO YOUR RESEARCH! Now you know if you want to play or not, and you have a general idea of what sort of college you’re interested in. So, look up all the colleges that fit your criteria and see which ones are on the top of your list. If you’re looking for a more academic school which has a good business program, be sure to put the colleges at the top of your list that fit that requirement. Don’t focus solely on the athletics, though. You only play for the fall season, so the rest of the year you have to be at your college and happy.

5. Look at their volleyball programs/rosters. If you want to play, make sure you know how good the team is and if you’d fit in with the team. For example, if you’re a setter and the team has three setters, two of which are freshmen, chances are that you won’t get a spot on the team. However, if the roster only has one or two setter, both juniors or seniors, you have a better chance of joining the team as the others will graduate much sooner, opening up spots.

6. Decide which program(s) would be the best for you and contact the coaches. If you want to play, you have to get your name out there, and the earlier, the better. Contact the coaches and tell them who you are, what honors and awards you’ve received, your GPA and SAT scores, your year in school, and that you’re interested in their program. Be sure to have more than one program in mind (I would recommend at least ten). Be careful with sending out mass e-mails, though. If you’re contacting UCLA, you don’t want to send an e-mail that says that you’d want to be a Stanford Cardinal.